Green Energy: Osinbajo, Sylva, Kyari, IOCs, Others to Brainstorm at OPTS’ 60th Anniversary

Peter Uzoho

The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, would be leading top policy makers and leading personalities in the Nigerian oil and gas industry to brainstorm on Nigeria’s green energy transition at the 60th Anniversary Dinner of the Oil Producers’ Trade Section (OPTS), an upstream segment of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

OPTS in a statement issued yesterday, said the event billed to hold on September 22, 2022, in Lagos, would also have in attendance the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva; Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mallam Mele Kyari, amongst other public and private sectors players.

According to the statement signed by the Executive Director, OPTS, Mr. Bunmi Toyobo, Osinbajo, who would be the special guest of honour at the event would deliver a keynote address titled, “Nigeria: Transitioning to Green Energy.”

Green energy otherwise known as alternative source of energy that is cleaner, more sustainable and environmentally friendly like renewable sources has become a topical issue in the global energy landscape owing to the devastating effects of fossil fuel and other energy sources that are harmful to the climate.
Nigeria has been making efforts to align through various policies and programmes and the federal government had set its net-zero target by 2060.

Speaking in Abuja two weeks ago, at the virtual launch of Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, a roadmap to tackle the dual crises of energy poverty and climate change, Osinbajo had declared that Nigeria was seeking $10 billion from international partners to fund the nation’s new Energy Transition Plan.

He stated that Nigeria was currently engaging with partners such as the World Bank, the US Exim-bank among others to secure an initial $10 billion support package ahead of the Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) schedule to hold in Egypt in November 2022, along the lines of the South African Just Energy Transition Partnership announced at COP26 in Glasgow last year.

“Nigeria would need to spend $410 billion above business-as-usual spending to deliver our Transition Plan by 2060, which translates to about $10 billion per year,” he had stated.
However, since its founding in 1962 as a group under the LCCI, OPTS has been the foremost advocacy group for the upstream sub-sector of the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Its membership comprises the leading names among the international oil companies (IOCs) including Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Eni as well as NNPC and the independent companies operating in the sub-sector.

The statement quoted OPTS Chairman and Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr. Rick Kennedy, to have stated, “Through individual and collective Social Responsibility Programmes, the OPTS members have made significant social investments in Nigeria including but not limited to national and international scholarships and other educational initiatives, community development projects, medical aids, facilities and programs, amongst other interventions.”